The biosynthesis, maturation and structure of the oligosaccharide components of membrane glycoproteins of lipid-enveloped animal viruses will be investigated in order to more clearly understand: (1) the specificity of glycosylation; (2) the role(s) of the carbohydrate moieties; and (3) the specific utilization of host cell machinery in virus assembly and glycoprotein processing. The advantages of studying cells in culture that are infected with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) or Sindbis virus are three-fold: (1) the genetic information of these viruses is limited and specifies only one (VSV) or two (Sindbis) species of virion membrane glycoproteins; (2) these are the only glycoproteins synthesized in significant quantities after host protein synthesis has been shut off by viral infection; and (3) the host cell provides the enzymatic machinery for the synthesis of virus-encoded glycoproteins. Previous studies of some novel intracellular maturation and biosynthetic processes utilized by the VSV glycoprotein are being continued and extended to include studies of the membrane glycoproteins of Sindbis virus, Rous sarcoma virus, and the cellular membrane glycoproteins of both normal and lectin-resistant cell lines. The affects of viral transformation, virus infection and cell growth on the oligosaccharide biosynthetic machinery will also be addressed.